Ne’ayuh

Greater Los Angeles Native American Visual/Craft/Material Arts 2006 2008

Ne’ayuh (meaning “Friends”) was born from a vision by local Southern California indigenous people at a 1996 meeting with the Angeles National Forest where members of several Native Californian tribes expressed a desire to reclaim their cultural and historic connection to the land.  Creating a center to honor the natural environment and First People led to the creation of Haramokngna (meaning “Place Where People Gather”) American Indian Cultural Center, in a facility in the Angeles National Forest along a traditional trade route used by indigenous Nations.

This was the site for a series of basketry workshops in 2006, supported in part by a grant from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program, which allowed members of the Tongva, Tataviam, Kitanemuk, Chumash, and Serrano, among other, communities to share skills and stories.  Participants also met with representatives from the Angeles National Forest in order to identify, establish, and develop protocols for the gathering and traditional management of essential native plants.

In 2008, Ne’ayuh received a Living Cultures Grants Program grant to support a three-day Native basket weavers’ gathering at Haramokngna, featuring workshops in basket weaving, material gathering techniques, and native plant maintenance.